ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF) returns in June 2020 to celebrate 12 years of sharing onscreen stories about the love, hardships, growth and triumphs of LGBTQ individuals in Asia and around the world. We are very excited to reunite the community for a festival of LGBTQ films again this year!

ShanghaPRIDE’s cinematic component has come a long way over the past 12 years, evolving from a single film night to a vibrant festival that supports emerging Chinese filmmakers while showcasing international queer cinema to audiences in Shanghai.

ShPFF began as a collaboration with the Beijing Queer Film Festival (now Love Queer Film Festival) to host film screenings and discussions. Since 2012, we’ve collaborated with foreign consulates in Shanghai to screen foreign LGBTQ films, and in 2014, ShPFF created an independent category for Chinese LGBTQ films.

In 2015, ShPFF launched the first annual Chinese LGBTQ Short Film Competition, in which the winner competes in the UK’s Iris Prize Festival, a tradition that has since continued every year. In the same year, we also co-founded the Asia-Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance (APQFFA) with ten other LGBTQ film festivals from throughout the region.

In 2015, acclaimed actor, Peipei Cheng opened ShPFF with her film, Lilting, where she played the role of a mother of a gay son. The trailblazing director of East Palace, West Palace, Yuan Zhang, joined us in 2016 for a screening and Q&A to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film, while esteemed actor Sir Ian McKellen sent his wishes to the festival that same year. In 2017, ShPFF traveled to Sydney, Hong Kong, and Taipei to share Chinese LGBTQ films.

In 2018, our milestone tenth anniversary festival ran for 12 days, with 45 hours of film. The submissions for the Chinese Short Film Awards achieved an all-time high of 50 films, and the Best Film, Pink Pills, was among the leading nominations in UK Iris Prize Festival. We also welcomed award-winning and nominated films like Alifu, The Prince/ss (Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2017) and 120 BPM (Caesar Award 2017, Cannes Film Festival 2017 and Palme d'Or Award 2017), in which the main actor of the earlier, Utjung Tjakivalid and co-screenwriter of the later, Philippe Mangeot joined us for a full-house Q&A. Our 2019 festival was an 11-day marathon, including a special curation, the Nordic Day, which we collaborated with foreign consulates from the Nordic. Vincent Lacoste, star in Sorry Angel surprised the Shanghai audience right before the festival with a lively discussion during his visit.

ShPFF 2020 will once again offer an exciting roster of events and unique opportunities for filmmakers. The submissions period for the festival begins TODAY, and we are thrilled to welcome Chinese and international LGBTQ films and filmmakers to join us on this amazing journey.

There are two categories in this year’s competition:

Chinese Short Film Awards The Chinese Short Film Awards invite filmmakers to submit works of fiction, documentary, experimental film, and animation that tell stories about LGBTQ Chinese characters. The film length is limited to a maximum of 40 minutes. Filmmakers of all backgrounds and experience levels are eligible.

Our grand prize includes the chance to win funding for your next film through our partner, Iris Prize Festival. In 2019, the top Iris award was £30,000 (around RMB 300,000).

World Cinema The World Cinema category invites filmmakers to submit works of fiction, documentary, experimental film, and animation about LGBTQ characters. There is no limit to the length of the film. Filmmakers of all backgrounds and experience levels are eligible.

ShPFF Submission Requirements 1. Films must focus on LGBTQ subjects. 2. The filmmakers themselves do not need to identify as LGBTQ. 3. The submission period is December 28, 2019 to April 12, 2020. 4. Films can be in any language. Films not in Mandarin Chinese MUST include Mandarin Chinese subtitles. Films not in English MUST include English subtitles. 5. Films must have been produced after January 1, 2019 to be eligible.